''Zieria compacta '' is a plant in the citrus family Rutaceae and is endemic to eastern

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. It is an erect, bushy shrub with leaves composed of three leaflets, and white flowers with four

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s and four

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s. It usually grows in rocky places on steep hills.

Description

''Zieria compacta'' is an erect, bushy shrub which grows to a height of about . The branches are smooth and lack obvious glands but are covered with a dense layer of hairs, especially when young. Its leaves are composed of three elliptic to egg-shaped leaflets with the middle leaflet long and wide and the others smaller. The leaf stalk is long. The upper surface of the leaves is glabrous and dark green while the lower surface is a paler green, covered with a thin, dense layer of hairs and has an obvious mid-vein. The flowers are white to pale pink and are arranged in groups of mostly six flowers (but sometimes as few as one or as many as 35) in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, st ...

s. The groups are usually about as long as the leaves. The four sepal lobes are about long and hairy on the outside. The four petals are long and in common with other zierias, there are only four

s. Flowering occurs in spring and is followed by fruit which is a glabrous follicle composed of up to four sections joined at the base and which burst open to release their seeds when ripe. Zieria compacta (habit)

Taxonomy and naming

''Zieria compacta'' was first formally described in 1942 by Cyril Tenison White in ''

Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland ''Proceedings of The Royal Society of Queensland'' is a multidisciplinary scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new re ...

'' from a specimen collected near Stanthorpe. The

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

(''compacta'') is a Latin word meaning "thick" or "firm".

Distribution and habitat

This zieria mainly occurs south from the Darling Downs and Fraser Island in Queensland to the far south coast of New South Wales. It usually grows on steep rocky hillsides in poor soils near granite or sandstone.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18084250 compacta Sapindales of Australia Flora of New South Wales Flora of Queensland Plants described in 1942